New Xbox One S hardware has “literally no impact” on games

15 June 2016

By Tarryn van der Byl

Not to be mistaken with Project Scorpio, Microsoft New! Not actually much improved! But now 40% smaller! Xbox One S console is basically the same as its bigger bro when it comes to game performance, despite some hardware boosts and a lot of conjecture.

“When we made changes to the box for 4K we unlocked a little bit more processing power to enable HDR. That’s it. It’s exactly the same architecture as the existing one,” Xbox strategy guy Albert Penello told Eurogamer. “To support HDR, we give people access to a little more CPU and GPU. That’s it. It is so insignificant it is mind boggling it is being picked up.”

This week, a report over on Polygon claimed that with the boosted processing power, Gears of War 4 could play with better frame-rates and resolution on the Xbox One S. Nuh-uh, Penello confirmed.

“I promise, it won’t even show up. It will have no impact on games at all,” he said. “Literally no impact. They will be identical. It’s nothing, it is literally nothing.”

“[The Xbox One S] was designed to play Xbox One games exactly the same way your existing Xbox One does,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer explained in a separate interview. “The one definitive feature that’s different is HDR. So, with the increased HDMI capability, it has the ability to support high dynamic range.

“I will say – and I’ve been asked about this – and I’m not trying to dodge the question, you should expect it to play your games the same way an Xbox One does. We did not design this to play Xbox One games better than the original Xbox One console.”

So now you know. That sexy matte white finish is another thing entirely, though. Ooooh.

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